Good Enough
by Sardonicus
Summary: Ash and Brock go to see a play put on by the Sensational Sisters, starring Misty. When Ash and Misty reunite, Misty's co-star, a bratty womanizer who finds himself unable to woo Misty, doesn't take kindly to Ash. AAML. Enjoy!
1. The Ticket

**A/N: It's been awhile since I've posted anything (I've been busy), but I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed and favorited my last story, The Greatest Gift of All. ****But here's a new one. It'll probably be five chapters long. I also fully intend to finish this fic, btw.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. If I did, it would be vastly different from the way it is now.**

* * *

The crowd was dead silent. Ash stood there, eyes wide, fists clenched in anticipation. The dust cloud looked as though it were about clear. A surge of emotion washed over him as he waited. Fear, excitement, anger, hope, all rushing through him like a herd of wild tauros. The cloud of dust started to settle. He saw two figures, standing defiantly, waiting for the other to fall over.

At the far end was a gallade, its arms out, poised to continue fighting, but you could tell he was struggling to stay upright. Nearest to Ash stood a pikachu, on all fours, panting, legs shaking, sparks still flying from its cheeks. That pikachu had been his companion for more than eight years, the only constant in his otherwise volatile life as a pokemon trainer. He began to worry; he knew his buddy too well. He could tell Pikachu was going to fall over any second. The question was, would the gallade fall first?

They stood there, staring into each others' eyes for what seemed like an eternity to Ash, but was, in reality, only a few seconds. Then Ash's fears came true.

Pikachu fell.

The crowd erupted into applause and the opposing trainer rushed to his gallade. A cold pallor descended over Ash as he watched the gallade stumble over, only to be caught by his trainer's ecstatic embrace. Pikachu had only lost by a second or two. The reality of that fact seemed to slam him in the chest, causing him let out a sharp breath of surprise. Then, the weight of disappointment slowly lowered itself onto his shoulders, making his upper body feel heavy. Head down, eyes toward the dirt, he walked over to his friend, and picked him up. He patted Pikachu's head as he turned around.

"You did great... Ya did your best, and that's all I could ask for," he said solemnly. Pikachu lifted his head and licked Ash's face. He smiled a bit. "You should get some rest now."

He looked back at his opponent, who was walking up to the podium to accept his position as League Champion. Ash sighed heavily, but felt very little. His feet began to drag on the turf below him. A small rock caught his gaze. He stared at it, and it stared back. It seemed to mock him, all too complacent where it sat. He lifted his foot up and tried to kick the insolent stone. He missed. Sighing once again, he set off to the pokemon healing station that was just beyond the door to the stadium's interior.

He turned his head toward where his friends and family were, in the stands. He saw many people he knew there, but only cared to notice the one person who wasn't. He looked toward the seat next to his mom, an empty seat. He was pretty sure it would be empty. It had been so all week. He looked back toward the exit to the stadium's facilities and continued his slow trod.

"I guess she was too busy to come..."

* * *

A Few Weeks Later

_RING RING RING_

"Ahh! What?" He jolted up from the bed and looked to his side to see his cell phone ringing. He flailed his arm toward the bedside table, whacking the phone. He tried to grasp it, but he found he had trouble coordinating his movements. He finally got the phone up to his face. The call was from Brock. Absent-mindedly, he accepted the call and put the phone up to his ear.

"Hello," Ash said with a groan.

"Hey, Ash. Did I wake you up?"

"Yep. Ya did."

"Do you know what time it is?" Brock asked with a hint of impatience in his voice.

"Breakfast time?"

"More like lunch time. You were supposed to meet me outside the Pewter Gym half an hour ago."

"No, that's impossible. I set an alarm to wake me up. Call me after my alarm goes off."

"But, how am I supposed to know when -" _click_. Ash dropped the phone on the bedside table and closed his eyes. He let out a yawn and stretched out his arms.

_RING RING RING_

Ash grabbed the phone, this time with a little more verve.

"What?"

"Ash. Your alarm didn't wake you. It's noon. Get out of bed and get over here." Brock said matter-of-factly.

"Hold on. I'm gonna check a clock." Ash looked at the display of the time on his phone. Sure enough, it said 12:03 pm. Ash's brain suddenly jolted awake. "Dammit! I'll get there as soon as I can!" he shouted into the phone, immediately hanging up. He jumped out of bed and threw on his clothes in a flurry of panic. Once he had figured out which way his shirt went, he looked around the small Pokemon Center room for Pikachu, only to find that he wasn't there. His head shot back and forth until he had an epiphany. "Dining hall!" he informed himself as he rushed out the door.

When he got to the dining hall, he didn't have to look far. Pikachu sat right near the door, with his new favorite meal in hand: two pieces of toast with ketchup slathered on them, stacked on top of each other. Ash rushed at him, not seeming to care that Pikachu was only just about to take the first bite of his meal.

"Pikachu! We're going!" Ash yelled, as he grabbed his buddy by the arm and pulled him away from his glorious ketchup concoction.

"Pikaaaa!" Pikachu cried out as his creation dropped, ketchup-side-up on his now abandoned plate.

Ash ran out the door and quickly tossed one of his Pokeballs. "Go, Charizard!" he shouted.

Charizard let out a roar as it was released and flapped its wings, already knowing why he was out of his ball.

"Charizard, fly that way," Ash instructed, pointing in the general direction of Pewter City. Charizard rushed off into the skies, realizing that Ash was in a hurry.

Ash looked down at Viridian forest below him. He watched as the light glinted off the leaves, creating a sparkling array of stars, laid out on a bright green backdrop. _It must've rained last night_, he noted. He looked forward, to the visible but far away Pewter City skyline. After a bit of thought, he guessed that they were half an hour away from the Pewter Gym. One hour late wasn't so bad.

He looked down once again and felt the treetops rush beneath his feet as he flew through the air, a feeling he had never quite gotten used to. It gave him a bit of a rush; he could never decide if it was an invigorating or an unsettling one. Sometimes it was a little of both, as it was now, probably due to the fact that he had just woken up. He had never dealt well with mornings. Most of the time, he had been able to ignore it, but lately, he felt less and less inclined to get out of bed in the morning. For the last few weeks, upon waking up he felt like an anvil had been placed squarely on his head during the night. Maybe it just came with being in the late-teens era of his life, or maybe it was something else.

Before he knew it he was touching down near the Pewter Gym, but Brock wasn't outside. Curious, Ash walked up to the door of the Gym and attempted to look through the translucent, dark-colored glass. After awhile of shadowing the glass with his hand and squinting, he decided that no-one was inside. It was just then that a voice came from behind him.

"See anything interesting?" Ash jumped up in surprise, only to see Brock behind him.

"Brock! Sorry I'm late, I just -"

"Don't worry about it. It happens." Brock offered a handshake and Ash accepted. "Great to see you again."

"You too."

"So, how's your little vacation from training been?"

"It's okay. I feel like I haven't done anything."

"That's the point. After all, you deserve it after coming in second place in the Honsho League Championships," Brock replied. Ash recoiled at the mention of the tournament. He didn't want to think about it.

"Yeah, whatever," Ash mumbled dismissively.

"Oh, come on Ash. The Honsho League is one of the biggest around. Getting second is nothing to shake a stick at. They're starting to talk about you, you know. It's gotten you noticed."

"Second place is great, I know that. It's been, what, three weeks now? I'm over it." Ash looked at the ground, something other than his reputation as a pokemon trainer on his mind.

"It's about Misty, isn't it?" Ash's head darted upward in response. His mouth hung slightly open in surprise at Brock's perceptiveness. However, his first instinct was denial, and he was never one to deny his instincts.

"Why does it always have to be about Misty? Don't ya think I have anything else to think about?"

"Ash, it always has to be about Misty because it always _is_ about Misty. Now, talk to me. What's up?"

Ash looked at him again and sighed. "She didn't come to the tournament," Ash admitted.

"Oh boy," Brock said immediately. "Come on around back. I feel a man-talk coming." With that, Brock guided them to the back yard of the gym, and they sat down at a picnic table. "So Misty didn't come to the tournament."

"That's the second time she's 'been too busy' to show up."

"She's a busy woman."

"Yeah, but she knew this was comin'. Don't ya think she could've made time?"

"Things come up when you have a life like hers."

"Did she even wanna go? She hasn't talked to me in a year and a half! Does she even care about me anymore? Does she never wanna see me again?" Ash began to rub the sides of the bridge of his nose with his fingers as he let out his paranoia to Brock. It felt surprisingly cathartic for him to get these questions out of his head and into a conversation. It made him realize that maybe it was just paranoia. He began to shake his head and laugh lightly. "I probably sound crazy right now."

"You know, part of me never expected you to be agonizing over a girl this much, but the rest of me totally expected you to be agonizing over _Misty_ this much." Brock's words elicited a chuckle from the both of them. "But you don't sound crazy. It's a perfectly natural part of being head-over-heels in love."

"I am not in love! It's just a crush. That's all." Ash began to blush at the thought, perhaps it was because he was still uncomfortable with admitting he felt anything more than friendship for her, or perhaps it was because somewhere deep inside, he knew Brock was right.

"Oh, come on Ash. How long has it been?"

Ash sighed. "Five years."

"Eight. You 'had a crush' the whole damn time. Well, since the Maiden's Peak festival anyway. It doesn't matter when you finally admitted it to yourself. But crushes don't last that long. They either fade or they grow into something more. And I think we can at least agree that it hasn't faded." Brock's words left Ash silent for a while. He was scared. He felt the fear deep in his gut. Being in love meant that he was betting it all, and of that, he was afraid, because he wasn't too sure that the odds were in his favor.

"I... I dunno." Ash's voice was quiet.

"Well, either way, you feel _something_. And to answer your earlier questions: she did want to go, she does care and she does want to see you again." Brock knew that now would be a good time to divert the subject from the nature of Ash's feelings. He could tell that it just made him more scared. And Ash was definitely relieved.

"Did she tell you that?"

"Yes, actually. On all counts."

"Then why doesn't she call me... invite me over or something?"

"Because you haven't called her. And you don't call her because she doesn't call you. Something's gotta give. And, like I said, she's a busy woman. Ever since her sisters officially brought her into the whole Sensational Sisters thing, she's had her hands full. They've really been taking off. She's pretty much a celebrity now."

"That's the other thing... She's got guys linin' up just to get a look at her. She can have pretty much whoever she wants. Why would she want me over some teen heart-throb? What if I'm not good enough for her?" Ash asked with a somber look on his face and a hopeless feeling in his heart.

"Ash, trust me, you don't have to worry about stuff like that. She's not like that." Brock had a look of sincerity in his eyes as he said this. Ash found it to be a bit comforting. They sat in silence for a few seconds before Ash felt the need to say something that he had never told anyone.

"I... I'm scared, Brock."

"I know. It's not that hard to figure out. But what do we do when we're afraid? We face our fears. And I've got just the ticket!" Brock took off his backpack and pulled out two slips of paper. "Literally, two tickets actually. They're for the Sensational Sisters' next show." Brock waved them a bit and smiled in a scheming sort of way. Ash began to feel apprehension well up in his stomach, and his eyes began to widen.

"Oh, no. You did not -"

"Oh, yes I did. And we're going, tonight."

"Whaa? Tonight! How're we gonna get there by tonight?"

"I have a car, you know." Brock retorted slyly. Ash sat there for a few seconds, stewing in his own fears, allowing his every paranoid delusion of failure run through his head and make a mess of it. He could almost feel the tornado of bad thoughts rush through his mind. After what seemed like awhile, the reality of seeing Misty by the end of the day set in, and other worries began to occupy his thoughts.

"But... I-I'm not wearing nice clothes!"

"You can change." Ash and Brock began to rapid fire off each other.

"I didn't bring anything that nice!"

"I'm sure whatever you have is fine."

"But I need to take a shower."

"Use mine."

"What about cologne? Do you have cologne?"

"I do."

"Do I even want to use your cologne? Is cologne too much? Does she even like cologne?"

"It's probably too much. You aren't going on a date _yet._"

"Should I iron my clothes? Is that important?"

"I don't see why not."

"I heard that if you work out, your muscles look bigger for a few hours. Should I do -"

"Ash! Calm down. Just wear something that looks good, don't smell horrible, and _calm down_. Panicking never helped anyone." Ash looked up at him and paused for a second.

"Right. I just have to calm down. Be myself and all that."

"Well, right now, yourself is afraid and not very confident. Why don't you be yourself but without those parts. Girls like confidence. You think you can do that?"

"Yeah. I-I guess."

"Great. You can start by not stuttering." Brock gave Ash a mocking smile. Ash simply shot him a look that said '_ha ha_, very funny.'

"I'm gonna take that shower now," Ash stated bluntly. He then walked off leaving Brock to himself.

"Ah, young love," Brock said wistfully to himself.

* * *

Ash sat in the passenger seat of the car, silently. They had been driving for an hour, but Ash found that difficult to believe. It had felt more like four hours to him, every second stretched out by anticipation. A dimly burning ember of anxiety had been sitting in the pit of his stomach the entire ride, and it showed no signs of going out anytime soon. The dull hum of the engine, the constant sound of the wind hitting the car, Pikachu's gentle snoring coming from the back seat, the quiet drone of talking coming from the radio all just served to make the waiting worse. The unchanging buzz seemed to resonate with his thoughts, which were equally monotonous. His mind kept repeating the same thoughts over and over again, going over all the ways it could go wrong with Misty. It had gotten to the point where it had made its own droning.

As he sat there in his freshly ironed clothing, barely moving, he began to listen to what the people on the radio were actually talking about. It wasn't very interesting, a traffic report, but listening helped get his mind off his thoughts. After hearing about overturned tractor-trailers and slowdowns on highways, the broadcast took a turn.

"Now let's hand it over to Rebecca Rose and Johnny Dixon with the Celebrity Newscast." Ash cringed inwardly at the prospect of listening to this.

"Hey, everybody! This is Johnny Dixon!"

"And this is Rebecca Rose. And you're listening to today's Celebrity Newscast."

Ash listened to stories about somebody he'd never heard of breaking up with somebody else he'd never heard of, two people he'd never heard of getting into a fist fight, some pop star he remembered from his youth trying to make a comeback, and so on for about fifteen minutes, without caring about any of it. Then something came on that managed to catch his attention.

"In other news, if you're anywhere near Cerulean City, the Sensational Sisters are putting on their final showing of a modern retelling of 'The Little Mermaid' later today. Tickets are nearly sold out, so you'd better get on it if you haven't already, right, Rebecca?" Ash's ears perked up immediately, and his attention was now acutely attuned to the radio.

"Their shows have been popular with the locals for years now, but only since they put out their first hit radio single 'Dance with Me' have they come into the national spotlight. Here's another reason to be excited about the show: they managed to bring in the star of Youth Network's hit drama 'Heartbreak High,' Tyler Westin, playing the role of the prince, alongside the youngest sister, Misty, as the title character. The rumor mill has certainly been working overtime with that one, hasn't it?" Ash's gut wrenched at this.

"Oh, yes it has, and I believe all of it! Any night now, you're gonna be seeing those two out on the town. I don't know how she'd be able to resist him, and you know his reputation." Ash recoiled at that last bit of information. From fear or jealousy or some other source, he couldn't tell, but something began to make him feel slightly nauseous.

"Change the damn station," Ash instructed, contempt lacing his tone.

"Relax, Ash, they're just rumors." Ash sighed. He then reached over to the tuning wheel and flicked it to a random frequency. Gospel music started to play from the speakers.

"I hate celebrity gossip crap like that," Ash replied emphatically.

"Can I at least turn it to something that isn't gospel?"

"Sure, whatever." Brock turned it to something. Ash only cared to notice that it wasn't the same station as before, and then became lost in his thoughts. Ash shifted so that he was turned away from Brock and looking outside, at the trees passing by, and anxiety about the nightmare-turned-reality that was this Tyler Westin guy began to envelop him. The two sat in silence as Brock drove them off toward the now cloudy horizon.

* * *

**So there was the first chapter. Hopefully you enjoyed reading it. Reviews, favs and follows are greatly appreciated. Criticism is perfectly fine, so long as it's constructive. The second chapter will be up soon. Also, check out my other stuff if you liked this!**


	2. Reunion at the Matinée

**Hello again! Many thanks to those who faved and followed this story! It really means a lot to me to know that at least somebody enjoyed what I wrote. Anyway, on with the story:**

* * *

"Wow. That's a hell of a line." Ash let his gaze slide along the line of people waiting to get into the show, hoping there might be some leftover tickets by the time they reach the front. He looked forward, to the Gym itself. The mere sight of it made him nervous. He began to feel a dull heat in his stomach and chest. He slowed his pace and stopped as he remembered what was soon to happen.

"Good thing I got the VIP tickets." Ash nodded in response. Brock stopped alongside him. "I'll bet it's been a long time since you've been here."

"Yeah. It has." Ash's mind began to wander as he spoke. He recalled wandering around the aquarium for the first time, trying to find the Gym Leader. Then his thoughts drifted to Misty. Her face filled the view of his mind's eye. Every feature exactly as he last saw it. He wondered if she looked any different.

"Well, we should get going inside. We don't want to sit in the back. That would make it hard for you to ogle Misty in her mermaid suit. Just like you did last time." Brock began to walk off. Ash stood there, his mind elsewhere.

"Yeah." Ash stood there for a few seconds, his thoughts on Misty, until something in his head clicked into place. "Hey! Wait! I'm not gonna 'ogle' her!" he yelled as he ran after Brock, who was already a fair bit ahead of him.

"Yeah, sure you're not. And I'm not gonna ogle her sisters. Heh! You know, if we both play our cards right, we could be related someday!" he said with a lovesick grin.

"That's a lotta ifs," Ash responded bluntly.

"Oh, come on Ash, have some confidence, you'll be fine!" Brock still had that all too familiar look on his face.

"Actually, I'm more worried about your ifs." Ash looked over at Brock, only to find that he was no longer paying attention to him. A small bead of drool was coming out of the corner of his mouth. Ash sighed deeply. He turned his gaze back to the path in front of him. The Cerulean Gym seemed to loom over him, like a dark tower where the ghosts of his past lay in wait.

As they reached the ticket counter, they passed by a sign for the show, a cardboard cutout of their guest star, Tyler Westin. He had never heard of him before the car ride over, and had no idea of what he looked like, until now. His insides lurched at how good-looking Tyler was. His stomach felt like it was twisting up into a knot as he stared at that perfect looking person. He looked over to the line and realized that most of the people were extremely excited preteen to teenage girls, holding photographs of this guy and pens, undoubtedly to get an autograph. It seemed that his worst fears were coming true. _How_ could_ Misty resist this guy?_ he asked himself solemnly. _What chance could I possibly have?_

"That picture is definitely photoshopped." Brock's voice broke him from his trance of self-pity.

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, nobody looks that perfect." Brock's words gave him a bit of relief.

"But still. I mean, photoshopping can only do so much. Just look at him. And remember what I said earlier about Misty and teenage heart-throb?"

"Eh, whatever. I'll bet he has the personality of a drunken slowpoke. Come on, let's get inside." Ash tore his gaze from the cutout and began to walk toward the door. He looked back at the line of people. The number of teenage girls chomping at the bit to get inside rose as they got closer to the door. He could feel the fear wash over him as thoughts of Misty and this Tyler Westin crept into his mind.

Once they got past the ticketing agent, they walked into the front hall. More bittersweet memories came rushing back to him as they walked by familiar sights. He remembered the last time he saw Misty performing here. She had looked so beautiful that day, all those years ago. For awhile now, he had wished that she would wear her hair down more often, like she did in that show. He began to wonder if she was going to wear the same mermaid outfit.

They entered the pool room as Ash's thoughts began to wander to other aspects of Misty's outfit. The room seemed to be bigger than it was last time they were here. The seats extended further back, the pool took up much less of the room, even though it was the same size, and it looked much more like a theater than something from a water pokemon gym. They walked down they aisle to the VIP section at the front, which consisted of the first five rows, all of which were roped off. They showed their tickets to the guy who was letting people in and stepped inside.

"Wow, Brock. How'd you get seats this good?" Ash asked.

"You may not have spoken to Misty in over a year, but I have."

"So she knows we're here?" The dull burning in Ash's stomach intensified for a second.

"Well, she knows I have two tickets," Brock replied with a hint of slyness in his voice.

"So she knows _you're_ here. But she doesn't know about me. So as far as she knows, you're on a date or something," Ash speculated. Brock stopped and pointed toward a pair of seats in the third row of the middle section.

"Looks like those are the best seats we can get. Let's take them before anyone else does." Brock stepped inside the row and took the seat, which was near the edge. Ash sat next to him, closer to the aisle, and took off his backpack. He unzipped the pack to reveal a sleeping Pikachu.

"Hey buddy, it's time to get up," he said to the creature as he pulled him out of the bag. He put him down on his lap, and Pikachu began to stir.

"Pikachupi?" Pikachu asked.

"No, Misty's not on yet, but she will be soon."

He relaxed into his chair as much as he could at the moment, when it seemed to suddenly dawn on him that he was about to see Misty. It was a strange feeling, and he felt like he should have felt it before now, but only just now did he actually feel as though he were about to see her. He started to get excited; to actually see her face after going so long with only pictures and memories to admire. Then he began to worry. What would he say to her? What would she say to him? Would she be mad? Would she even say anything at all? Would she run into his open arms and embrace him, tears of joy pouring from her eyes? Was he actually going to be able to see her in person? He had only been thinking about whether Misty felt the same as he did to consider such practical matters. For some reason, he found it comforting that she didn't know that he was here. He didn't know why, but that seemed to make everything easier.

About five minutes later, his thoughts were interrupted by the lights dimming and a familiar voice coming over the PA system. It was one of Misty's sisters' voices, Violet maybe, greeting the audience or something. Ash found himself unable to concentrate on the voice. His thoughts began to rage inside of his head, his emotions going along for the ride. Anxiety, anticipation, and apprehension all mixing together to form a boiling froth of sensation in his chest. His heartbeat began to thump inside of his neck and his cheeks started to heat up. The voice in the background went silent. Everything was silent. Then, a figure bubbled up from under the surface of the water, red hair cascading down to her shoulders, the crowd erupting as she rose above the surface. It was Misty, and she looked stunning. His memories paled in comparison to the figure on the stage. The reality of her crashed over him like a tidal wave as she flicked her wet hair behind her back. She was so familiar, yet so novel, and just as beautiful. She rose a bit more from the water, onto the edge of the pool, which was supposed to be a dock. Ash's eyes wandered to her body. She looked like she had been working out a bit.

"Wow, it's only been a few seconds and you're already ogling her," Brock whispered into his ear as the applause calmed down.

"I am not... Fine. I'm ogling her. But, for the record, I don't seem to have much control over what my eyes are doing."

"Oh, you've learned well from me." Brock chuckled a bit as Daisy came up from under the surface as well. Another burst of applause rang out, this one possibly louder. Daisy seemed to be playing a friend of Misty's character, as they were both mermaids, Daisy's first line was to ask why Misty looked so down. Then Misty began to speak. Her voice didn't disappoint him either. It was just as melodious as he remembered. From here on, Ash stopped paying attention to anything but Misty. Apparently she was a pretty good actress, a point on which Brock agreed. Her lines were all well executed, and she was very graceful. And her singing was entrancing. When she started singing for the first time, his mouth hung agape and his heart nearly melted.

From what Ash could tell, the plot pretty much mirrored that of the animated movie, except it was set in modern times. Misty wants to see what it'd be like to have legs and walk on them, and Daisy tries to talk her out of it, some witch looking mermaid tries to talk Misty into using black magic to get her wish. For a second, Ash wondered what they would change the prince to, then he realized that he'd be seeing this Tyler in person soon. He began to get nervous; he didn't want to see how he looked shirtless, which he was completely certain would happen.

Soon, Misty and Daisy had both returned to "the docks" and they both seemed to see someone coming and hid. Sure enough, Tyler Westin walks onto the docks, shirtless. The jumping teenagers, the wild shrieking, and raucous applause that accompanied his entrance were deafening. And he had abs, which elicited a surge of anxiety in Ash's stomach. He rubbed his own stomach, clenching his muscles, and just as he had suspected, he didn't think he would compare very well. Lily walked with Tyler, arm in arm. Tyler started saying his lines, and while his voice sounded smooth, his delivery was terrible. Ash also noticed that he was always glancing toward the same spot, which turned out to be a guy with brown hair in the front row holding up cards, presumably with his lines on them. Ash sighed and looked around him; all the preteen girls looked like they were on the edge of their seats.

Ash looked over to Misty again. She seemed to be looking into the audience from her "hiding place." Actually, she seemed to be looking in his general direction. In fact, she seemed to be looking him right in the eyes. Her head whipped over to her left. Ash could have sworn she was looking right at him, and that made his heart flutter a bit. Before Ash could think about this anymore, Brock interjected.

"Wow, this guy's pretty terrible," Brock whispered into his ear.

"He doesn't even know his lines either." Ash pointed at the brown-haired card guy. Brock had to crane his neck, but he saw the guy.

"Oh man, this is gonna be an interesting show."

Apparently, the prince was now the star quarterback at the local high school, who happens to sail as a hobby, and Lily was his ditzy girlfriend, who he didn't actually like very much, but only went out with because it was expected of him. _Typical_, Ash thought. Even he knew that was clichéd, and he lived in the wilderness most of the time.

The play continued on, Misty fell in love at first sight with quarterback guy, she went to the witch woman and got her legs, but the witch took away her speech. She went up to the surface and the quarterback guy finds her, and the rest. There were a few things that Ash couldn't help but notice: first, that Misty's acting quality dropped noticeably when she had to act alongside Tyler, and that Tyler seemed to be holding back words, like he wanted to say something other than what he was saying. On the first count, Ash figured that Tyler's bad acting was hard to work with or something. On the second count, he had no idea.

As the play progressed Ash got more and more tense. He knew what was coming. He had seen this coming since the moment he knew he was going to see Misty in a play. The kiss scene was coming. It made him want to run out of the room and sit in the hallway until it was all over, but Brock would certainly stop him. He just wanted to shut his eyes and ears so that he didn't have to watch Misty kiss another man. He seriously considered doing it, but he knew that the squealing from the teenage girls at the moment of the kiss would overcome any attempt to shield his ears. It would be best if he knew when it was coming, and it was coming soon. He remembered enough of the movie to know that much. As each moment passed, he got tenser, the dull ache of anxiety in his gut became a stinging pain.

Then it came. Tyler was holding Misty in his arms, and they were inching closer together. He could hear the beginnings of squeals coming from all around him, while his gut was beginning to squeal in a much different way. Time seemed to slow to a standstill and his heartbeat once again started thumping his neck. He began to recoil back into his seat, his eyes unable to be wrenched away from the nightmare in front of him. And then it happened. Their lips were touching. The squealing went into full-bore. Ash looked at Misty, just to see what she would do. She seemed to freeze, her eyes looked like they were clenched shut. She was almost lifeless. Tyler, however, seemed to be going at it. He was doing all sorts of things with his mouth. Ash felt a bit sick to his stomach watching him, so he looked back to Misty. She started to back away, but Tyler just went forward with her. Then she started to pull away from him, as if to say "nope, this scene is over." Ash had no idea what to make of what he just saw.

"Huh, Misty looks like she wants to wash her mouth out with bleach. Maybe you're not as bad off as you think." Brock's words calmed Ash's mind a bit.

"Maybe." That was all Ash could manage to say. He sat silently for the rest of the play, thinking, trying to decide if both Brock and his eyes were just telling him what he wanted to hear, or if Misty might really have no interest in the guy every girl on the planet seemed to want. The play ended promptly, everyone applauded, the cast bowed and everyone started to shuffle out of the theater. Ash and Brock stayed in their seats, waiting for the room to clear out.

"Well, I enjoyed that. Girls in bikinis, Misty's sisters in bikinis. Yep, I enjoyed that." Ash sighed at Brock. "So what'd you think?"

"Uh... Misty looks... good. It's good to see her again. But..."

"The kiss? Those abs?"

"...Yeah."

"Well, why don't we go ask Misty about how she feels about those two things." Brock started to walk into the aisle and toward the door. Suddenly Ash remembered that he would actually be talking to Misty soon. Upon realizing this, he started to panic. He sprung up, his pikachu scampering from his lap to his shoulder.

"Hey, wait! Can't we talk to her about normal things?"

"Y'know, I get the feeling that she's gonna start talking about him anyway." Brock looked back at him and gave a crafty grin. As he walked out the door to the main hallway, Ash started to run after him.

"What? What's that supposed to me- WAAA!" Ash felt something hit his left shoulder just before he lost his footing. He began to fall over, flailing his arms in an attempt to regain his balance. He fell onto his back with a thud, slightly dizzy from the impact. He looked over to his left, to see a man on his knees over a large box and bunch of papers, splayed out over the floor. Pikachu had jumped from his shoulder before the fall and stood next to him. "I'm sorry. What happened?"

"Oh, uh, we ran into each other and I dropped my box." The man looked to be in his mid twenties, he was wearing a gray suit and his brown hair was slicked back. He was a bit large, frankly, and looked a bit nervous.

"Here, let me help you clean up you papers." Ash caught a glance at one of the papers as he got up to help the man; it was a head shot of Tyler Westin. Ash looked around to see that all the papers were head shots of Tyler. Suddenly a shout came from behind him.

"Hey! Marvin! What the hell are you doing?!" Ash turned his head. Tyler Westin was standing a few feet behind him, arms crossed, looking rather angry. The brown-haired man jumped up and stood there, hunched over, rubbing his hands together anxiously.

"Oh, M-mr. Westin, sir, I-I was just picking up your pictures... sir."

"You dropped my pictures!? You clumsy little... I can't give my fans _dirty pictures_! Management's gonna hear about this, and you'll never work in showbiz again!" He was practically screaming at Marvin. Marvin looked intimidated by him, too. It was all starting to rub Ash the wrong way.

"Hey, leave him alone. It was an accident," Ash said in a relatively calm manner.

"And who the hell do you think _you_ are?!"

"Does it matter? We just ran into each other and your pictures got dropped." Ash's voice was starting to get louder.

"Oh, so it was _you_! You better apologize to me for damaging my property, and to my fans for keeping them waiting for their autographs, kid." He started to get up in Ash's face. That made Ash angry. Pikachu started to growl at Tyler from his shoulder-top perch.

"I'm not apologizing to you! You should be apologizing to Marvin for yelling at him!"

"Do you even know who I am, _kid_?!" He looked at Marvin, and back to Ash. "Okay, I'll apologize. I'm sorry, Marvin. I'm sorry you're such a fatass nerd! Happy, kid?"

"No, I'm not. Now apologize for real," Ash ordered emphatically.

"You know what? Imma give you a pass. You don't seem to know who I am, so I'm not gonna deck you in the face." He started laughing. Pikachu's cheeks lit up in defense of his trainer. "Oh, look at the terrifying pikachu! I'm so scared!" He and his entourage all started laughing at Ash's friend. Ash gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Then a familiar voice called out from behind him.

"Ash!" He turned around to see Misty running toward him.

"Pikachupi!" Pikachu chirped excitedly. Ash's mind was suddenly jumbled. He wasn't sure which to feel, anger at Tyler or elation that Misty seemed to be happy to see him. Before he knew it Misty was hugging him firmly. He held his arms out in confusion for a few seconds, eventually returning the embrace. His anger was quickly supplanted by joy. Misty was happy to see him. It sounded trivial, but that made him feel happier than he could have imagined it would.

"It's been so long. I've missed you," Misty said.

"Really? Uh, I mean, me too." Misty giggled a bit at this, but was interrupted.

"You know this loser, Mist?" Tyler asked. This riled Ash up on two points: first, he wasn't a loser, second, only he could call her "Mist."

"Okay, this _loser_ is my best friend, and only I can call him 'loser.' And stop calling me 'Mist!'" She was quite insistent on that last point.

"Oh, swag, swag," he responded, indifferently, his hands in his pockets. Misty seemed to be balling her hands up into fists. Marvin went over to her, placed his hand on one of her fists, and shook his head a bit.

"And what's going on here, anyway?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"He knocked over my pictures!" Tyler accused, pointing at Ash.

"It was an accident! I bumped into Marvin and the pictures fell and now he's yelling at me and insulting me!" Ash retorted.

"Tyler... just go over there and talk to your fans or something," Misty replied.

"Not even a kiss goodbye? You don't want that kiss on stage to be the last one, do you?" Ash felt a rush of anger and jealousy.

"Over there," Misty ordered, pointing to her left.

"Fine, fine. Just get my stuff over here pronto, fatass! Alright, swag," he said, as if that were some kind of farewell. Ash began to wonder what the word "swag" meant. It was silent for a few seconds, until Misty lost it a bit.

"I swear, if I have to hear that kid say 'swag' one more time... I'll get my mallet and... and I don't even know! If it weren't for my sisters and their precious reputation and that kid's lawyers... I'd smash his face in!" Misty was making all sorts of gestures and gesticulations and facial expressions, Ash couldn't help but smile. Also, the fact that Misty seemed to dislike this guy contributed to his grin.

"Sorry, but what does 'swag' even mean?" Ash asked through small chuckles.

"It can mean anything. So it ends up meaning nothing," Marvin explained.

"And he will _not_ stop saying it!" Misty added, frustration lacing her voice.

"I even had to hold up line cards to... well, they were to remind him of his lines, but on the bottom of every card, we had to put 'don't say swag' in capital letters to stop him from saying it." Ash began to laugh a bit at this notion. After he was done explaining, Marvin sighed and stooped over to resume picking up the photos of Tyler.

"Here, let me help you with that," Ash offered as he knelt. Misty joined them both soon after.

"Thanks... Ash, was it? Thanks for standing up to him for me. I could never get up the nerve to do it myself." Marvin sounded truly grateful.

"Well, I could never watch someone get picked on and not do anything."

"And I'm sorry for his behavior. He's used to being treated with more, ah... reverence. He's a bit of a, ah... child of privilege."

"So he's a spoiled brat?" Ash asked bluntly.

"Yeah... Yeah, pretty much," Marvin responded.

"So how'd ya end up workin' for him?" Ash wondered.

"I work for his management agency. They sent me out to be his assistant as my first assignment. This isn't the sort of thing I wanted to do, but it seemed like a good way to connect with people in the business."

"What is the sort of thing you wanna do?"

"I want to be a director." Marvin started to get starry-eyed. "It's what I've always wanted to do, ever since I was a child. I want to take movies, or T.V. shows, o-or plays and turn the lines on the script into something worth watching."

"We even gave him the chance to, with this play. Once we got to know him, we let him direct all the scenes without Tyler in them," Misty added.

"He refused to take orders from me. But I got billed as the co-director!"

"You know, the offer's still on the table. You can quit working for him and work for us," Misty proposed.

"I said I'll think about it. I'd love to, but I think I'm too young for it. And plus, I don't know if I could work up the courage to quit. And I-"

"Oh, stop making excuses! You hate it, so quit." Misty was making a lot of sense.

"I said I'd think about it." They finished picking up the pictures, pens and assorted other stuff. Marvin sighed. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you around. I'll be in touch. And thanks again, Ash."

"See ya. Good luck." Misty waved at him and he gave a small wave back. Misty turned toward Ash. His heart started to beat faster. Adrenaline began to surge into his veins. It was just the two of them now.

"So, Ash. It's been awhile, hasn't it?" she said, much more calmly than he had anticipated. Pikachu squeaked happily and jumped into her arms. "Oh, I missed you too Pikachu." Ash smiled at the cute scene. His stomach began to become filled with the proverbial butterfree.

"Yeah, I thought you'd be mad at me for not calling you."

"I was, for a long time. Then Brock said something that made it all make sense, and I realized that it was both our faults. So I'm just happy you're here." Ash was extremely relieved to hear that

"Lemme guess. He said that I stopped calling you because I thought you were too busy, and you stopped calling me because I stopped calling you, and I continued not calling you because you weren't calling me, and so on."

"He said it to you too?"

"I guess so."

"Where is he, anyway? He should be around here somewhere."

"He was walkin' that way when I bumped into Marvin. We should go look for him."

"Yeah, and we can catch up on old times while we look."

Suddenly, Ash felt a tap on his shoulder. He swung around to see Marvin.

"Uhh, Tyler want to have a word with you, Ash. Alone." He looked at Misty as the last word came out of his mouth. Ash sighed, but he obliged. Misty offered to wait for him. Ash followed Marvin to the table which had been set up for Tyler, undoubtedly for him to sign autographs on. When they reached the table, Tyler stood and took a menacing posture.

"Look, kid. I see the way you and my girl over there are talkin' to each other, and I don't like it." Ash, once again, began to get ticked off.

"Who said she was 'your girl?'" Ash asked, his tone soaked with vitriol.

"See, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Because she _is_ my girl. Swag?"

_Can that even be a question?_ Ash thought. "Right. 'Cause I get the impression she doesn't see herself that way."

"She's been playing hard-to-get from day one. That'll change soon. But don't be mistaken, I get a piece of every girl I want, and I want a piece. And don't try to take my piece; you don't got enough swag to anyway. But if you do, imma be angry. Got it?" At this point, they were glaring at one another, eyes a few inches apart. Ash found himself disgusted with Tyler's demeanor toward women. His complete lack of respect for Misty only served to make Ash angrier.

"Oh, I've got it, all right."

"Good. Now go away."

"Gladly." Ash promptly turned away, a profoundly unsettling feeling in his gut. He walked toward Misty, who looked a bit confused. She was probably wondering what they were talking about, or why they looked so angry at each other. Ash was still trying to decide whether or not to tell her.

"What was that all about?" Misty asked as Ash arrived at her side.

"He doesn't like me very much." He decided it wasn't worth it to tell her. It would be certainly cause embarrassment to admit that Tyler was jealous of him over Misty. Plus, his words were probably just the empty threats of a spoiled child.

"I'm not surprised."

"Why not?"

"Uh... I just... you two don't seem like the type to get along... is all," she said, clearing her throat afterward. Ash looked back at her, to see what looked like the tail end of a blush, but that was probably just wishful thinking. All the same, his heart skipped a beat at the prospect.

"I guess not. We should go find Brock now." He turned back and began walking in the direction that Brock had gone. While they walked, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. There was something off about that guy; he could see it in his eyes. Ash tried to ignore it, but he couldn't help but feel that Tyler Westin might be more than some spoiled brat that viewed him as competition, that his threats might not be idle. These thoughts stayed in his head the rest of the day, gnawing at the back of his mind as he, Misty, and Brock reunited.

* * *

**So that was the second chapter. I hope you enjoyed reading it! Reviews are greatly appreciated, praise and criticism alike. The next chapter will be up soon.**


	3. Asking For It

**Hello again. Many thanks to everyone who reviewed, faved, and followed this story! Here is my rather dialogue heavy chapter three. I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

It was ten in the morning. He couldn't remember the last time he felt like this was early. In fact, he doubted if such a time in his life ever existed. He had a bit of a headache, and his eyes felt like they were being compelled to close. Despite his discomfort, he was awake, and he, Misty, and Brock were going to go someplace for breakfast. Misty had referred to the place where they were going as "cute" and "out-of-the-way." Ash guessed that the last one meant that they wouldn't be seeing any kind of paparazzi there.

There was one problem, though. No one had seen Brock all morning. Nobody saw him around the Gym, nor did anyone see him leave. Ash sat at the kitchen table while Misty stood near him, attempting to call Brock's phone. Ash looked at the table, his eyelids still heavy, and saw nothing but polished granite and assorted papers. His eyes started to glaze over the papers that sat in front of him when one caught his eye. It was bright blue and had "For Ash and Misty" written on it in Brock's handwriting. He picked it up and turned it over.

"Sorry. Something came up. I'm gonna miss breakfast. I'll be back in the afternoon. -Brock," it read.

"Dammit! Why won't he answer? Wasn't it his idea that we go out in the first place?" a frustrated Misty asked.

"Hey, I just found this. Seems like Brock's got somethin' to take care of." Misty read the note and looked up, slightly worried.

"Do you think there's something wrong? It's not like him to leave like this."

"I dunno. I'm sure he's got it under control, whatever it is." There was a short silence between them.

"Are we still going out to breakfast?" Misty asked, a hint of tension in her voice. Ash suddenly became nervous. He had just realized that this meant that he would be going to a restaurant to have a meal with Misty, just the two of them. The only thing that stopped this from being a date was the time of day.

"Uh... I-I don't see why not." Ash quickly began to feel extremely unprepared for this.

"Plus, I want to be here as little as possible when Tyler comes to pick up his stuff. I'm ready to go if you are." Ash looked up at her. He felt a bit panicked, and in no way felt ready to go. However, there was no reason he wasn't ready either. He was dressed, had shoes on, Pikachu was with him. He couldn't think of anything he could say that would give him time to at least look himself in the mirror.

"I... We can go, I guess." It was then that he remembered what Brock had said the day before about staying calm and being confident. He took a deep breath and willed the bad thoughts out of his head. He stood up and told himself that this was no different from any other time he had a long conversation with Misty. They were simply in a restaurant this time. "So how far away is this place?"

"Not far. A few blocks." Ash proceeded to follow Misty, trusting she knew where she was going. They made some small talk along the way, but nothing of note was said between them. Ash spent most of the way there keeping his thoughts quiet and his demeanor calm, which took a bit of effort. He also noticed that the two of them got a few funny looks from passers-by. He was sure Misty got looks like that all the time at this point.

After a few minutes, they arrived. The place was indeed cute, even though Ash didn't really know how that could apply to a restaurant. It was small, warmly lit, had various eccentric decorations on the walls, and apparently had a garden seating area in the back, as Misty asked to be seated there. When they got outside, Ash began to get nervous again. It was one of the more romantic looking places he'd been to in a while. There were flowers all over the place and everything seemed to glow in the sunlight. He started to wonder why the fact that this was breakfast made it not a date. This made him worry, as he found no reason that it shouldn't be a date, and his stomach started to churn. As they sat at their table, he realized he was panicking again and made a mental note to wonder about the relationship between breakfast and dating later.

"Isn't this place nice?" Misty asked him.

"Yeah, it is," Ash responded, somewhat distantly.

"I like to think this is what a restaurant in France would look like." Misty began to look around wistfully.

"Still like French things?"

"How do you know I like French things?"

"You told me, eight years ago, at the beginning of my journey."

"Ash Ketchum, since when do you have a good memory?" Misty asked, mockingly.

"My memory is fine, thank you very much," Ash retorted defensively.

"Funny, I remember you having a bad memory," Misty teased.

"Well, bad memory or not, I'm allowed to remember a few random things you said years ago." Misty began to giggle. This confused Ash. He didn't think what he said was funny. There was a short silence between the two as the waitress came to their table to bring them glasses of water.

"So, Ash. I never asked you, what did you think of the play?" Suddenly the image of Tyler kissing Misty pushed its way into his head. He tried to stay calm as he tried to think of what to say if the kiss came up in their conversation.

"You were great." Misty smiled at his compliment, and Ash's heart proceeded to melt. "Even when you weren't talking, you were still great. I liked most of the play. To be perfectly honest, I liked everything without Tyler in it..." Ash started to feel anxious. In his mind, it was still entirely possible she liked Tyler. After all, the things she said about him yesterday sounded a lot like things she had said about Ash in the past.

"Yeah... He's a pretty terrible actor. I'm amazed that the show he's on cast him as anything in the first place. He wasn't famous then and he was probably worse at acting. Anyway, he did everything wrong. He was always using the wrong tone of voice, always emphasizing the wrong words, making the weirdest gestures. It was really irritating. I tried to ignore it, but I felt like I let it get to me during the show."

"Yeah, I noticed that. That you were affected by his bad acting, anyway."

"Really? Oh... Oh well, it's not like I can do anything about it."

"Why'd ya cast him, anyway."

"Because he's famous with the right group of people. My sisters want to appeal to young girls, they figured bringing him in would bring in a whole load of those. We didn't even audition him. They just asked if he'd do it and he agreed. I said we should at least make sure he's not worse on stage than he is on TV."

"Is he better on TV?"

"A little bit. Probably only because he can do a retake if he forgets a line."

"How did he get so popular?"

"Beats me. I'll bet his parents probably paid the right people the right amount of money to get him a part on that show he's on. They own a big media corporation, the same one that owns the network that 'Heartbreak High' is on. That's his show. How that got popular, I have no idea. And I guess he's popular because he's on a popular show and they all think he's the hottest guy on the planet." A surge of jealous fear shot through his body, just as the waitress came up to take their order. A single thought started to burn its way through his head: _Does she think he's the hottest guy on the planet?_ The panic he had held in the whole time began to break loose. His cheeks began to get hot, and he could hear his heart pounding away at his chest.

"And what'll you have?" Ash's thoughts were interrupted by the waitress, when he realized he never even looked at the menu. He couldn't say that, because Misty had already ordered. He had to just pick something. He looked down, and the first thing he saw was the omelet section.

"Uhh... An omelet. A western omelet." The waitress took their menus and walked away before he realized that he didn't know what was on a western omelet. He shrugged off the thought, accepting the fact that he'd eventually find out.

"Anyway, for whatever reason, he's extremely popular with young girls and that's exactly who my sisters want to target. So they asked him to do the part."

"What about you? What do _you_ want?" Misty's look suddenly became a bit saddened. She let out a small sigh and propped her head on her hand.

"I don't know. I certainly never wanted to be working with Tyler." Ash suddenly felt a good bit of relief. "This whole Sensational Sisters thing... just between you and me, I never really wanted to be part of it in the first place." Ash was somewhat surprised at Misty's admission.

"Then why'd you do it?" Misty looked up. She seemed to tense up as she thought of an answer to the question.

"I... I don't know. I just... wanted to impress... people." Misty was practically staring into Ash's soul as she said that, and Ash was pretty sure a small blush graced her cheeks afterward. "I wanted to be noticed by people... I was feeling a bit small and vulnerable when they asked me, so I said yes. And then we did that stupid song, and it took off... I guess I just wanted to be noticed." Misty's voice went quiet. She looked down at her lap. Ash's heart sank at the sight of her like this. He wasn't used to it; she was almost never sad, in front of him, at least.

"Misty... for what it's worth... I notice you." Saying that made Ash's stomach feel like it was about to explode with adrenaline, but it seemed like the perfect thing to say. His cheeks became hot; he was blushing. She smiled softly in response, and might have been blushing as well.

"Thanks, Ash... That means a lot to me." She looked up at him, into his eyes. Ash was nervous. Right now was near perfect. It was as close to the perfect moment as he would get to tell her how he felt. Despite his fears about Tyler, despite the fact that he'd be stuck here with her for a while if he were rejected, he resolved to finally do it. The fear suddenly drained out of him as he took a deep breath.

"Misty!" A familiar voice rang out across the garden. Both of their heads whipped over, to see Marvin stumbling over another table, apologizing to the people sitting at it. Ash's thoughts began to scream at Marvin for ruining the moment. Suddenly all of his fears and doubts came rushing back to him. He yelled every foul word he could think of at Marvin in his head as he walked over and sat down at the table.

"Going out to breakfast. Clever way to hide a date from the paparazzi." Ash felt the heat in his cheeks return.

"It's not a date!" they both affirmed in unison, voices raised. Ash knew he was blushing, but he couldn't help but wonder if Misty were too. Marvin recoiled from their volume.

"Right. Of course. A-anyway, Misty, this might be important or it might not be, but I'd like to err on the side of caution with this one. It's about Tyler."

"Well this can't be good." Misty sighed heavily, while Ash mentally complained about having to hear about him.

"I'm afraid not. So Tyler makes it a point to... y'know, 'get with' every girl he works with, at least the ones he finds attractive. He's very used to getting what he wants... I don't think I need to tell you that he finds you attractive or that he hasn't 'gotten with' you." Ash once again felt disgusted with Tyler. Though he was relieved to know that Tyler and Misty weren't getting intimate. Ash looked over to Misty. She had an eyebrow raised and her arms crossed.

"Is it bad that I'm not at all surprised that he's a sexual predator?" Misty asked. "I'm more surprised he gets girls who talk to him for more than five minutes."

"Actually, he usually stands there looking sultry more than talking to them. And, it's almost never been an issue. All of the girls were... willing, by all accounts, as far as I know."

"You know, you don't have to apologize for him. He's not here," Misty responded.

"Well, I _am_ kinda used to it. It's basically my job, after all... Anyway, the only time it was a problem was with Melissa Herder. She had a boyfriend, that guy in that boy band, I can't remember who. Well, I started hearing talk I didn't like, so I... buried my head in the sand and ignored it. Eventually, I was instructed to bring briefcases full of unmarked bills to various people, most of whom I believe were publishers involved with gossip outlets, and one who was a very large, scary looking man, whom I also had to bring an envelope labeled 'instructions.' Next thing I know, Melissa's boyfriend suddenly breaks up with her, Tyler 'catches her on the rebound,' and all the media spins it to look like Melissa broke up with her boyfriend for Tyler. I told myself that I had no idea what was going on, that I was just doing what I was told... but I can make a good guess at what happened. Ever since then I've felt guilty. So this time I'm gonna make a stand... Unless you plan on giving him what he wants."

Misty tilted her head forward a bit, raising her eyebrow even more than it was raised before, and gave Marvin a look that clearly said what she was about to say. "You know me better than that."

"Yeah, I didn't think so."

"So, what's he planning? How worried should I be?" Misty asked in a mocking tone, as if she weren't threatened by Tyler at all.

"Actually, it's more Ash we should be worried about." Ash's ears perked up.

"What? Why me? What did I do?" Ash knew perfectly well the answer to that question, due to his little conversation with Tyler the previous day. Since he never told Misty about it, he decided to feign ignorance.

"In his mind, you're the only thing between him and Misty. He thinks you're the only reason she isn't throwing herself at him. You have to keep in mind, his ego is the size of a zeppelin. It's to the point that he can't even comprehend it when a girl doesn't fall in love with him at first sight."

"Believe me, there are plenty of other reasons I haven't been throwing myself at him," Misty said, arms crossed, eyes rolling. Ash couldn't help but wonder why she used the word "other." He didn't have much time to think, as Marvin caught his attention with more important matters.

"Anyway, I overheard Tyler talking again; that's why I found you two as soon as I could. I think he's going to try to make another pass at you when you get back to the Gym, and if it doesn't work... well, he wasn't very specific about that." The waitress, who had brought the food out, interrupted him. Ash inspected his western omelet. Peppers, onions, and ham, it seemed. _Could've been worse, I guess_, he thought as he began to eat. After the waitress left, Marvin resumed. "All he said was that he and his 'posse' would take care of you." Marvin put quotation fingers around the word "posse."

"What's he gonna do? Make me leave?" Ash wondered.

"I'll keep an ear open, but I don't think he's going to be too vocal about that."

"So what do we do now?" Ash asked.

"Well, first, I break out my mallet. Then, when he tries something, I whack him in the face. I think that'll get the point across."

"I think you'll have to be a bit more subtle than that. His lawyers will sue you for all your worth if you injure him," Marvin added.

"Well, then, I'll just have to not injure him. I think I know what I'll do. Alright, we'll _let_ him try." Misty seemed rather satisfied with herself. She was obviously planning something.

"No mallets, please," Marvin requested.

"Nope. But I might need backup. Tyler might be some kind of martial arts master for all I know. Ash, can you and Pikachu to back me up in case things get out of hand?"

"Uh, sure." Ash had no idea what she had in mind, but he supposed he would just have to wait and see. Knowing Misty, it was bound to be amusing.

* * *

They had just gotten back to the Gym when Misty practically ordered him to sit in a specific seat at the dining room table. She told him look through the two open doorways in front of him and to wait until Tyler starts trying something. Then he was supposed to move closer and make sure nothing went awry. Ash began to wonder how he was supposed to know when things were going badly if he didn't even know what she was going to do. She ran off before he could ask her anything. He just sat there, Pikachu in his lap. He looked over, through the doorways to see Misty lean up against the wall, exactly where he could see her. She put her fist out, stuck a thumb up and began switching from a thumbs up to a thumbs down, asking whether she was positioned correctly. Ash gave her a thumbs up and she proceeded to look casual.

Ash twiddled his thumbs. He was starting to get nervous, uncomfortable even. He was just supposed to sit there and watch Tyler hit on Misty. Frankly, he didn't like the idea of that. Having no clue what Misty was going to do about it made it even worse. She seemed pretty confident, so he tried to share that feeling, but he was having a hard time. It was strange, out of all the friends he could worry about, he seemed to worry about Misty the most. If anything, she was the one he should be worried about the least, at least that's what his rational mind told him. He had always tried to value his friends equally, but despite his best efforts, Misty seemed to be first in his mind. Such was the nature of his feelings, he supposed.

He looked back over to her and he suddenly felt as though he were leaving her out to dry by simply watching. He reminded himself that Misty was capable of doling out pain with the best of them, and his worries faded a bit. Then, Tyler came into view, popping out from behind the doorway that obscured Ash's vision. Tyler started to lean over Misty, supporting himself with his hand on the wall. A bit of anxiety shot through his chest as he scampered toward the first doorway, to get a closer look. He was now looking at a T-shaped intersection in the hall, with Misty positioned so that there was a wall opposing her. He started to be able to hear them as he got closer.

"Anything you want to say to me before I leave?" Tyler asked, attempting to be suave.

"No, nothing," Misty replied dismissively.

"Oh, come on. This is your last chance, y'know." Misty paused for a second.

"I have nothing to say to you."

"Hm. Well, if you don't got anything to say, how 'bout a kiss, for old times' sake." Ash started to feel anger well up within him.

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Oh, you can't be satisfied with those _staged_ kisses." Misty seemed to think for a bit.

"I wouldn't use the word satisfied."

"Enough with hard-to-get act. It's getting old." Ash started to clench his fists. This guy was starting to cross the line.

"Oh, it's no act." Misty hadn't moved an inch since he started to hit on her. She just stood there defiantly while he slowly leaned in. Tyler reached down and placed his hand on her hip. "Don't. Touch. Me." She started to glare at him.

"We both know you've been asking for this for weeks." Ash's eyes widened. This guy was unbelievable!

"Well, I think -" She grabbed the hand that was on her hip. "- you're the one -" She put her other hand on his shoulder. "- who's been asking... for this!" Her volume rose dramatically as she flipped him around and shoved him forward with lightning quickness. Ash heard a thud as they went out of view, behind the corner that blocked his view, he and Pikachu rushed out from behind the wall so that he could see what was going on. Pikachu's cheeks began to spark, but he stopped once he saw what had happened. Misty had Tyler pinned, his face mashed up against the wall. Misty was holding his right arm perpendicular to his body. She was also flexing his hand backward and had her hand firmly pressed against his ring finger, a very awkward and painful looking position. Tyler was whimpering in pain.

"Ah! That hurts!" Tyler's voice was suddenly high-pitched. Ash found that to be morbidly amusing.

"And it'll hurt more if you try to get escape! I put a little more pressure on your finger and it snaps off! Got that?" Ash stood there, eyes wide, speechless.

"Yeah." Tyler locked eyes with Ash. He could see the anger seething behind the pain in Tyler's eyes.

"Good. Now let's get some things straight. I'm not interested. Never was, never will be. Now, I'm gonna take you to the door, shove you outside and you're not gonna come back. And let's be clear about that last point. That means that you won't come back here and you won't hit on me anymore. Are we clear?"

"Yeah." Tyler looked incensed now. He kept staring at Ash, his gaze dripping with venom.

With that, Misty dragged him down the hall to the door. She shoved him out, rather violently, and slammed the doors shut. Through the glass, Ash could see Tyler begin to yell at the door, waving his arms around. Ash could make out something about "regretting this" and something about his "swag." Misty walked away calmly, brushing her hands against each other victoriously. Tyler started to point at them, and then began to stomp off in random directions. Ash was still wide-eyed.

"Damn... Where'd ya learn to do _that_?" Ash asked.

"Around. Impressed?"

"With your ruthless efficiency? A bit. Surprised? Not really."

"I've never been described as ruthlessly efficient before. I like it." Ash smiled at her playful tone. It was then when Marvin walked out from the hallway where they were before.

"I presume it went well?" he asked, knowing the answer.

"I wouldn't call how she did it subtle, but it went well," Ash responded.

"No injuries?"

"He could have a sore hand for a while, but nothing he could sue me over. Plus, I have a witness who can testify that I did it in self-defense," she replied, referring to Ash.

"Don't get too comfortable, though. There's still Ash to worry about." Ash suddenly remembered what Tyler wanted to do after he tried again with Misty. He found himself a bit scared. He had been threatened and endangered before, but never by a foe like this, someone whose weapons were money and influence.

"Well, you'd better keep an ear open, then," Misty suggested as she waved goodbye.

"I will. Bye guys." Marvin walked out from behind the wall where Tyler wouldn't have been able to see them talking, and walked out the door. Just as Marvin was walking out, Brock stepped inside.

"What's going on? Why is that Tyler guy yelling at the building?" Brock appeared somewhat concerned, perhaps by what he heard Tyler yelling about.

"It's a long story. You missed a lot," Misty informed Brock.

"I'm up for a long story." With that, Ash, Misty, and Brock walked off to sit down for a rousing retelling of the morning's events. But Ash's mind seemed focused elsewhere. A single irrational thought repeated its way through his head as Misty talked about how they dealt with Tyler. _If Tyler, the guy every girl wants, isn't good enough for her, what hope do I have?_

* * *

**So there it was, chapter three. Reviews are greatly appreciated, praise and criticism alike, as are favs and follows. The next chapter will be up soon.**


	4. Best Laid Schemes

**Hello everyone! Thanks to all those who reviewed, faved, and followed. Knowing that people are enjoying my story makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Anyways, here's chapter four! Enjoy!**

* * *

Brock sat across the dimly lit room, his nose casting a shadow across his face with the light from the single incandescent lamp in the room. It had just gotten dark outside, so there wasn't any light coming from the windows. He seemed to be pondering something. The look on his face was strange. Ash didn't know what to make of it, but it was undoubtedly caused by what he had just said. They sat in silence for a few more seconds until Brock spoke.

"So you think that because Tyler wasn't good enough... you can't possibly be good enough for her either?"

"That's what I'm worried about." Ash's voice was quiet, almost solemn in its tone. He sat in his chair, stewing in such worries, staring at the coffee table in front of him, for lack of a better thing to stare at.

"It doesn't really work that way. It's not a black and white kind of thing... And even if it were, you're assuming Tyler is better than you. Do you really think that Tyler is better than you?" Ash knew that Brock was making sense, but his mind didn't seem to care very much. He didn't know what to feel, so he felt nothing.

"... No."

"From what I've heard, I'd have to agree with that. So what do you have to worry about?" Ash thought on it for a while. He couldn't come up with an answer.

"Look, I know it doesn't make any sense."

"These things rarely do, Ash. But I've never taken you for the type to have an inferiority complex."

"Tyler's got hordes of girls that'd give anything for a shot with him. He's been with a lot of them too. I've never really even kissed a girl before. I'm eighteen, Brock; you'd think that woulda happened by now." A feeling of inadequacy descended upon Ash as he thought about his own words. He found a stray thread coming out of the arm of his chair and began to tug at its frayed edge.

"So now we're judging worth by how many girls we've kissed?" Brock asked, a hint of derision in his voice.

"No... but... It's gotta mean somethin', right?"

"Let me ask you something. Who do you care about, Misty or everyone else?" Ash wondered where Brock was going with this seemingly silly question.

"Uh... Misty," Ash replied cautiously, fearing this might be a trick question.

"Then why do you care what everyone else thinks? So most girls think Tyler's the dreamiest guy who ever lived. So what? They've never met him, and it's not even them we're talking about. We're talking about Misty. Do you actually think Misty's gonna look at you and care that Tyler's kissed more girls than you have?"

"No." Brock's logic was starting to get through to his mind. He began to feel the veil of dejection lift.

"Then what are you worried about? She hates Tyler. She does _not _hate you. As far as Misty's concerned, you're much better than Tyler." Ash tried to convince himself that Brock was right, and that he had nothing to worry about, but he found himself unable to completely let go of his fears. While he did feel better than before, the anxiety and anguish still lay dormant in the pit of his stomach.

"Well, that doesn't really answer my worry."

"Oh, so it's deeper than that. I thought as much."

"I guess what I'm really worried about doesn't really have anything to do with Tyler. I guess he just made it worse. But I'm really afraid that... that I'm not good enough." Talking about it seemed to heat the fear in his gut up, lighting up a flame of heartache that danced within him.

"Not good enough for Misty? Ash, there's only one way you can answer that question for yourself, and I think you know what that would be." Ash shuddered at the thought of telling her how he felt or asking her on a date. It was strange to think that only a few hours ago he was fully prepared to do just that as the very idea of it now made him tremble. "But do you want to know why I really brought you here?" This piqued Ash's curiosity.

"What? Why?"

"I wanted to get you a few steps closer to telling her, if not all the way. When I left you two at breakfast, I went and goofed around at the mall for a few hours." This surprised Ash.

"So you left us alone?"

"And I knew she would want to go to that romantic little garden place, so I planted the idea and left you two to go on a practice date."

"A practice date?"

"To get you used to the idea. To show you that you could go on a date with her and do fine. I invited you over to my house so that I could take you to that play. To get you talking to her again. You've been pining over her for way too long, man. You've been pulling yourself away from telling her, and I figured if I didn't do anything, nobody would, and you'd just keep pining. I'm your friend. I don't wanna see you like that." All of the talk of telling Misty how he felt sent pangs of anxiety through his chest, but he did see Brock's point.

"So that's why you've been acting a bit off and saying cryptic things. But... why're you tellin' me this. You can't pull my strings anymore if I know what's goin' on."

"Sure I can. I just have to deal with your whining now." They both chuckled a bit at that. "Plus, this whole Tyler thing is throwing a wrench in my plans. The best laid schemes of mice and men, y'know."

"The what?" Brock raised his eyebrow and sighed.

"Never mind. But I'm telling you this because it shows you something. It shows that _I_ think you're good enough for her, for what it's worth." Ash felt only a little touched by the sentiment. It didn't seem enough to hear it from Brock, but he appreciated it all the same.

The sound of a latch opening came from beyond the slightly open door to the room, catching both of their attentions. A high-pitched laughter could be heard. The timbre of the voices was unmistakable; it was Misty's sisters, coming into the building. Ash looked over to Brock. He was practically on the edge of his seat, mouth hanging open, eyes as wide as Brock's eyes could be. It sounded like the sisters were getting closer to the room where they sat. As their voices got louder, Brock picked himself further out of his chair, craning his neck to see out of the door. Ash was sure Brock was ready to bolt out of the door upon seeing them. He could tell by the familiar look on his face. Then, Daisy's blonde mop of hair swept across the sliver of a view out the door. With that, Brock was off.

"Daisy! Have I ever told you how stunning you always look?" Ash just rolled his eyes and sighed. His head dropped into his hands and he rubbed his brow. Brock always had a way with running off for women at the worst times. Brock's fawning voice got quieter, until he let out a shout. "Ow! Ow, ow!" It sounded like he was in pain, and it was getting louder.

The door slammed open, revealing Brock, hanging by his ear from Misty's grasp. She sighed. "Do I really have to start doing this again?" Misty asked in a frustrated tone. Then, she dropped him onto the floor. Brock just lay there as he let out a groan of disappointment. "Okay, guys. I just got a call from Marvin. He's got some info on what Tyler's planning to do next."

This prospect began to make Ash nervous. He was almost afraid of what he might do to him. He tried to keep his mind calm as he got up to follow Misty to the vid-phone. It wasn't really Tyler that was worrying him, it was the fact that he didn't know how to fight him that had Ash afraid. He couldn't battle Tyler; he didn't have any pokemon to his knowledge. He couldn't just sick his pokemon on him; he'd probably get sued for all he was worth. So he was at a loss. He was far too used to dealing with his enemies through pokemon. This prompted him to start thinking that maybe he could turn the situation into something that his pokemon could help with.

The three of them sat down in the vid-phone terminal and greeted Marvin, who looked rather anxious. He was constantly checking his left and right. Then he started to reveal some rather unsettling things.

"He knows where I live?!" Brock asked incredulously, having just learned that Tyler planned to lie in wait near his home.

"Well, you _were_ a gym leader, and information is cheap, if you know the right people," Marvin replied.

"But why is he waiting at my house?" Brock asked, audibly unsettled.

"He knows you two came together, so you guys are presumably going back together. That's my best guess anyway," Marvin responded.

"Does he know where I live?" Ash asked cautiously.

"I don't know if he has the specifics, but he knows you're from Pallet Town," Marvin added. Ash recoiled at this revelation.

"What's he gonna do when we get there?" Brock asked.

"Well, he's bringing his little band of thugs with him... He'll probably try to surround you and... well, I don't really know what he'll try to do. I don't even know why he's doing it. I think Misty managed to get through to him, so I don't know what he's trying to accomplish." There was a silence between them for a few seconds as they thought. Ash began to wonder what exactly Tyler was going to do. Was he just going to try to beat him up? He couldn't really think of anything beyond that. Maybe he just wasn't creative enough.

"So he's set a trap for us... What're we gonna do about it?" Misty asked the group.

"Well, if we avoid his trap, he'll just keep settin' new ones, right?" They all agreed with Ash. "So we'll just have to spring it. He thinks he's got the element of surprise; we can use that to our advantage. So he thinks it'll just be me and Brock, right? Well, I think we can have Misty give him a surprise of our own. You up to give us a hand, Misty?"

"What? Did you think I was just gonna sit back and watch Tyler threaten you?" She responded, the usual verve in her voice.

"All right! I think I've got a plan then."

* * *

He sat in the passenger seat of Brock's car once again. It was late, around eleven at night. They were close to Brock's place. They had been driving for two and a half hours now, and only had about half an hour to go. Ash had spent most of the time in the car trying not to worry about Misty. He had been looking out the window beside him, at the moonlight as it darted in and out of the leaves and tree branches, giving the forest a ghostly white glow.

The moon had always reminded him of Misty, and of when he finally realized that his feelings toward her weren't of a simply friendly nature. It was during their time in Johto, when he was thirteen. It was during the Whirl Cup. He had woken up in the middle of the night to find Misty staring out of the window. The moonlight flowed over her face, and she glowed, much like the leaves were doing now. He remembered thinking that she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen, and then he realized something. He realized that there was something different about her in his eyes. He realized that all the times she made him feel strange feelings in his stomach, the times he got angry when other guys tried to get close to her actually meant something. Brock had to explain it to him a few times, and it wasn't until May started traveling with him for him to completely understand that Misty was special to him. He had been so naïve back then.

Suddenly, the higher ground that lined the road began to block the moonlight. His thoughts redirected themselves to the coming confrontation. Ash found himself a bit worried. His plan hinged on Tyler backing down, but now, he wasn't so sure that would happen. What if he just kept coming after him? Just how dedicated was he to whatever he hoped to do? These thoughts ran through his head, as did scenarios of being forever dogged by Tyler's cronies, of being perpetually on the run; an absurd notion, but that didn't stop him from imagining it. He looked back to the car that had followed them since they had gotten on the highway, undoubtedly keeping tabs on their distance from Pewter. He tried to keep himself calm as they came ever closer to the Pewter Gym. They drove by a sign for the exit to Pewter City; they were nearing their destination.

The radio droned on, until much to Ash's dismay, the same celebrity news duo they had heard the other day came on the air with a "breaking news update."

"Johnny Dixon here with Rebecca Rose, and do we have a surprise for you! For those of you who've been living under a rock, Tyler Westin, star of 'Heartbreak High' has been working with the Sensational Sisters on a play. If you've been paying attention, you'll have heard quite a few rumors about a budding relationship between Tyler and his co-star Misty, the youngest of the Sisters." Ash could only sigh and roll his eyes.

"That's right Johnny, but our latest report seems to indicate the opposite. Our sources are telling us that Tyler has actually rejected the possibility. When asked about it, Tyler had this to say: 'it just wasn't right between us.' Even more surprising, rumor has it that Tyler was actually the one who cut it off before anything happened between them. Now, personally, I find this to be a bit unbelievable. I-"

"Well, anything's possible, Rebecca."

"Hold on, let me finish here. I went to the play, and when their kiss scene came, Misty seemed like she wanted nothing to do with it, but Tyler seemed pretty into it."

"Well, you've gotta remember that Misty's known for her temper. Maybe she was angry with him before that scene, and that maybe that temper of hers turned Tyler off in the end."

"Wait, I thought we agreed that-"

"Speculation can only go so far, Rebecca, and our sources on this _are_ credible. Well, that's all the time we have, we've gotta hand it back over to DJ Robby."

"Gee, I wonder which one of them was paid off." Brock's commentary was dripping with sarcasm. Ash found himself confused by what he just heard.

"Wait, so if Tyler paid them to say that he didn't want Misty, then he must be done with her, right?"

"Yeah. Then what does he want with you?" They both sat in silent thought, pondering what Tyler really wanted.

They were almost there. Ash started to get nervous. Not only did he not know what Tyler was going to do, he didn't know what he wanted. Then something occurred to him. _Is he just gonna beat the crap outta me, then leave?_ The whole time, he had been operating under the assumption that there was going to be a confrontation, that he was going to be threatened to leave Misty or suffer the consequences, or something along those lines. The plan he had come up with relied on that assumption. What if Tyler was just going to run up behind them, whack him over the head with a crowbar and run away? It was a possibility he hadn't considered.

As these thoughts consumed his mind, Brock parked the car.

"Well, here goes nothing," Brock said, opening the door to the car. Ash opened the passenger door and stepped outside. He took out his phone and sent Misty a text message, telling her that they had arrived. He took a deep breath of the night air and began walking toward Brock's abode. As they approached the porch stairs, figures began to emerge from the shadows to either side of them; Tyler and his gang, no doubt. Ash and Brock both stopped in their tracks and feigned surprise. Then Tyler's voice came from their left.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't my friend Ash Ketchum, the ace pokemon trainer from Pallet Town, and his friend Brock Slate, the former Pewter City gym leader, who lives... oh, right here. I'd like you to meet my friends." He held up his arms, as though he were presenting his group of eight or so rather large guys.

"Whaddya want, Tyler?!" Ash asked through gritted teeth.

"And how do you know where I live?!" Brock asked, acting distraught, even though he already knew.

"Oh, nothing much. Just a little payback. I don't think I have to tell you what happened between me and Misty." Tyler began to pace back and forth. "I don't like it when don't _get_ what I _want_. And I think it's _your_ fault that I didn't. And when it's _your_ fault that I didn't _get_ what I _wanted_, I can't just let you get away with it, can I?" Tyler's attitude, like most things about him, made Ash angry. He began to clench his fists. "Oh, he's angry now. He thinks he's got swag. And your _widdle_ pikachu's not here to protect you." Tyler and his gang all started to laugh at him. He stood his ground, never removing his glare from Tyler.

"Well, whaddya want from me?"

"What do I want? It's not what I want, it's what I don't want. I don't want you to get anywhere with her. I didn't, and I got so much more swag than you. It wouldn't be very fair if you did. The world should be at least a _little_ fair, dontcha think?"

"How do ya plan on doin' that?" Ash was genuinely curious.

"You're gonna call her, and you're gonna tell her that you want nothing to do with her. You're gonna tell her she's ugly, and mean, and everything you don't like in a person, and that you never wanna see her again. And it's gonna crush her, and she'll never wanna talk to you again." Ash scoffed at him. Though he was right that she wouldn't want to talk to him again if she heard that from him, there were still a few problems with his plan.

"Oh really? I'm gonna tell her that? What're you gonna do if I don't, beat me up?" Ash's voice mocked Tyler.

"Oh, no. I've learned enough about you to know that won't work. But I know something that might. Claire!" A woman walked out from the shadows where Tyler's men had previously lay in wait. She was stunningly beautiful, and she wasn't wearing much in the way of clothing. Ash began to wonder what Tyler had in mind. She strutted toward them, giving Brock a sultry stare. Then it hit Ash. The rest of Tyler's plan snapped into focus in his mind. A spike of adrenaline drove itself through his chest. Tyler really has learned a lot about them.

Brock's jaw dropped and he began to visibly salivate. He started to mindlessly fall forward, his eyes agape, glued to the woman's figure. He collapsed forward, on one knee, and began to babble, arms outstretched.

"Oh, Claire! Do you believe in love at first sight? I certainly do! Why don't you believe with me for a while?" Brock was nearly shouting, and could hardly stay upright. One of Tyler's men came up behind Brock and grabbed him by his outstretched arm. Brock fell to both of his knees and the man took out a baseball bat from behind him. The thug held the bat up, unmoving. Ash began to feel rage bubbling up within him. "This man won't hold us apart for long, and then we can be together again, you'll see!" Brock hardly even knew what was going on.

"Well, you made that rather easy, Brock," Tyler said as the woman began to walk toward him. Ash looked at Brock. He seemed to be snapping out of his trance. Ash looked back to Tyler and saw that the woman now had her arms around him. "No struggling, no unnecessary fighting. I have to say, I thought that wouldn't work that well." Tyler was clearly mocking Brock. Brock started to look around, as though he had just regained consciousness.

"What? Ohh..." He groaned in disappointment and defeat.

"Let him go! He didn't do anything to you!" Ash demanded.

"Why? He's my bargaining chip. And to answer your question, I'm not gonna beat you up if you don't do what I want, I'm gonna beat _him_ up. My father always said, 'every man has his price.' What's yours, Ash Ketchum?" Ash's rage went from bubbling to boiling. Anger surged through his veins. He began to growl. Another feeling accompanied his anger, helplessness. All he could do was wait for Misty. _What if she doesn't get here in time?_

"You won't get away with this!"

"And why not? How're you gonna prove I had anything to do with this? I've got an alibi; there's a me look-a-like walking around Cerulean with my credit card right now. Plus, like I said, every man has his price, police, judges, and juries count too." Tyler began to chuckle. Ash, on the other hand only became more enraged. "So what's it gonna be? You could always try to repair what you had with Misty, but if you _allow_ me to let my posse loose on your _best friend_… well, that'll always be your fault." Ash growled, his teeth still gritted, fists still clenched. He couldn't let them beat Brock up. He wouldn't be able to live with himself. He thought about what would happen if he had to tell Misty all of those things if she didn't show up in time. Then he remembered that she knew that he was in some kind of confrontation with Tyler. Surely she wouldn't believe what he said. She would just write it off to the situation. He could only hope anyway.

"Can't there be a third option?" Brock asked desperately. Tyler took up a pensive pose, obviously faked, for a few seconds.

"No, sorry. I don't think so." Tyler said, a sardonic smile on his face.

"I've got a third option for you!" a voice called out from the darkness behind Tyler. Everyone's attention turned to the origin of the shout. Ash felt a wave of relief wash over him, knowing whose voice it was. A figure stepped out from the shadows, two large and powerful pokemon flanking her sides.

"What? Misty?" Tyler seemed shocked to see her.

"The third option is that you leave without me having to sick Ash's charizard and my gyarados on you goons."

"You wouldn't dare. I would _ruin_ you. I'd sue you for all your worth!"

"You could try. But you'd lose. We've had someone videotaping this from that outcropping since you started talking about beating up Brock," she said, pointing to the small cliff that abutted Brock's house. "We're doing this in self-defense." Tyler started to lose the cool composure that he had maintained the whole time.

"... You're too soft to use those pokemon on us! Where did you even get a gyarados anyway?!"

"I tamed him. He obeys my every command. Even stuff as specific as... fire a warning shot at the asshole over there with your hyper beam to his left." Gyarados reared its head, a small sphere of orange light forming in its mouth. The beam fired for a split second, hitting a spot on the ground a few feet to the left of Tyler. He jumped, letting out a high-pitched squeal in fear. "Now do you wanna bet I'm too soft?"

"Tyler, is this really worth it?" One of the thugs asked, his deep voice sounding concerned.

"Shut up! Nobody asked you!" Tyler ordered. His voice cracked once or twice.

"Your little plan isn't gonna work anymore. Misty's here and she knows what you're up to and you're outgunned. And I don't think you should try anything like this again, 'cause from now on, I'm keepin' all my pokemon out of their balls, at all times. You don't wanna mess with my pokemon," Ash stated, a victorious defiance in his voice. Tyler stood there. Now, his fists were clenched and his teeth were gritted.

"Face it, Tyler. You've lost. Let it go." Tyler reacted little to Misty's words. "Okay, I'm gonna count to five before you get blasted. Five!"

"Okay, okay! Fine! I've got too much swag for you losers anyway." Tyler, angry and frustrated by his defeat, conceded to them, and began to walk away with his gang. He turned around for one last word. "But, Misty... I will ruin you. When I'm done, you will be nothing! Nothing!" He turned around and stomped off.

"Fine! See if I care! I never wanted to be famous anyway!" Misty yelled fervently. The only response she got was a middle finger from Tyler, raised high into the air. "Ugh. Finally!"

"No, wait. Watch," Ash recommended. There was a final bit of his plan he had kept a surprise. They all watched Tyler walk off, when suddenly, the gurgling sound of a squirtle came from the trees and a jet of water careened into Tyler, leaving him dripping wet.

"Ahhh! What was that?!" He turned around. "You!" he yelled, pointing his finger at the three of them. He looked like he was about to continue when he was interrupted by another sound from the same area of the forest.

"Pikaaa... Chuuuu!" A bolt of electricity struck Tyler's soaked body, causing him to contort into various uncomfortable positions, and to yell out in pain. After a few seconds, the shocking stopped, leaving Tyler charred and smoking. Misty and Brock were laughing heartily at this point. Ash simply smiled.

"That was a pikachu! It _was_ you! I will sue you so hard for this!" Tyler was hysterical at this point, waving his arms around, much like earlier that day after Misty threw him out of the gym.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I've never seen those pokemon before in my life." He denied smugly, his arms crossed.

"I can prove they're yours! Their pokeballs leave signatures!"

"I'm sorry, but my pikachu doesn't have a pokeball. As for my squirtle, I released it a while back. Even if they were mine, you couldn't prove anything!" Ash informed him triumphantly.

"But... You... I... Augh!" he shouted as he stomped off into the dark of the night. They waited a few seconds, until Tyler was certainly gone for good.

"So that's where Pikachu and Squirtle ran off to," Misty said between giggles. Just then, the two aforementioned pokemon jumped out of the forest. Pikachu jumped up to Ash's shoulder.

"Haha. Good job back there, Pikachu." Pikachu nuzzled him in response. "You too Squirtle." Squirtle gave him a thumbs up. Then another figure came running from the trees behind them.

"Hey guys! Hey! That - " Marvin was panting at this point. "- was awesome. Normally, I'm not one to take pleasure in other people's misfortune, but... that was awesome."

"So Marvin, you gonna quit working for him?" Misty asked.

"I don't know if I could have before, but the way you guys stood up to him just now... I'm going to do it." Marvin seemed to be beaming with confidence.

"Well, then as my last act as a Sensational Sister, I'm hiring you as our new... something. I'll think of a title for you later. Right now, Tyler's gone. We don't have to worry about him anymore. Let's just hang out, like old times." They all sighed a collective sigh of relief. Then Ash thought about what Misty had said and wondered something.

"Misty, whaddya mean by 'last act?'" he asked.

"Well, Tyler's gonna trash my reputation. When he does, my sisters will kick me out to protect theirs, so I'm not gonna give him the pleasure. I'm quitting."

"Really? What're you going to do? Be a full-time gym leader again?" Brock asked.

"I don't know. If I tried that, Tyler might be petty enough to trash my reputation as a gym leader too... Where do you think you're heading to next, Ash?" Ash's did a double take at this. Her voice was quiet, hopeful almost. His heart started beating faster, and thoughts both good and bad raced through his head. He tried to keep himself calm.

"Uh... well, I was thinking of goin' to Albion, but I'm not sure." Ash was trying to sound less hopeful than he felt.

"Ooh, that's nice and far away... I might go with you... i-if that's okay, of course." Joyous fireworks went off inside Ash's mind. He had to actively suppress his urge to jump up in elation.

"Yeah, sure! That would be great!" Ash's attempts to contain himself were only partially successful. His voice was a fair bit louder and more excited than he tried to make it.

"Well, I'm gonna have to skip out on this one, guys. I'm still a doctor, and I don't have a fill-in like Misty." Brock punctuated his statement by nudging Ash in the side twice with his elbow. Ash was glad it was nighttime, as his cheeks immediately became hot, and he could tell he was blushing badly. He could tell what Brock meant by it.

"Well, you already had your turn adventuring with Ash. I guess it's my turn now," Misty added. There was a short silence between them. Ash's mind was abuzz with the possibilities. He was going to travel with Misty again. That thought filled him with a happiness he hadn't felt in a long time, but there was a worry that gnawed at the back of his head. He would have to tell her how he felt at some point.

"So... what happens now?" Marvin asked the group. "We can't just stand out here in the middle of the night forever."

"Well, my house is right there. We can crash there and head back to Cerulean City in the morning," Brock suggested. With that, they all headed into the house. Ash spent the rest of the night in a mental whirlwind, his thoughts occupied by the myriad outcomes of the coming journey with Misty. He lay awake in the guest bed that night, thinking of how he would tell her. Would he ask her on a date? Would he just tell her? As he drifted off to sleep, he supposed he would just have to see where the future took them.

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**So that was chapter four. Hopefully you enjoyed it. Feel free to fav, follow, or drop a review. Criticism is great, so long as it's constructive. Chapter five will be up soonish, though I might start to get busy. But I give you my internet-bound word that this story will be completed.**


	5. Good Enough

**First of all, I am so very sorry this came out so late. I have an explanation though: my laptop went and derped. Like hardcore. I couldn't have it on for more than ten minutes before it crashed. But it's mostly better now! Anyway, here's the chapter five. Enjoy!**

**WARNING: THERE WILL BE FLUFF (but I'm sure most of you were waiting for that part)**

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Ash watched as the cars zipped along on the distant highway. They seemed so small from this far away, like ants, all marching in a line. The particular car he was watching, a silver minivan, passed behind a plane, taxiing across the runway that stretched out before him. A black line raced in front of his eyes, left to right, breaking the illusion that he was in an open space. He looked down the window, at all the thin black lines that joined the panes of glass, lining the moving sidewalk he was on. His eyes darted to his left, at all the people who were whizzing by as he stood there. Even the people who were standing still went by him. Families huddled around the departure screens, looking for their flights, an old man sat in a chair, just watching people walk by, a child excitedly ran the other way, holding something, he couldn't tell what.

The child passed out of view, behind the girl standing next to him. He looked up at her face, right into her encapsulating eyes, to discover she was looking at him. His head darted forward again. A small rush of adrenaline made its way through his veins, quickly reaching his cheeks, causing them to become warm. All manner of thoughts paraded loudly through his head. _Misty was looking at me! Does that mean she likes me? Does she think I'm good-looking? What if she noticed I was looking at her? Is she gonna think I like her? Is that bad?_ This was nothing out of the ordinary for him. This always happened when he caught her looking at him, or the other way around. He liked to think it happened often, lending credence to the idea that she did like him, but he had no way of knowing if it was indeed often; he had nothing to compare it to.

This quickly passed and his attention turned to the end of the moving sidewalk. He had never known what to call it. He figured it had a technical term like "elevator" or "escalator" but he didn't know what it was. He had always called it a "people mover" in his head, but "moving sidewalk" sounded better out loud. He couldn't tell when it ended. When people got off, they kept walking, so it was hard to tell when they weren't being moved anymore. Though, he could see that people about thirty seconds ahead of him seemed to be going from a tight formation to a wider walking pattern.

The pikachu perched on his shoulder hopped onto his head and then onto his other shoulder. He had to put all his other pokemon into his checked bags, as he couldn't afford to buy all the extra tickets they would need to sit with him and Misty. He had decided that it was time for him to start training the pokemon he had currently instead of starting anew each region he went to. It was starting to get hard to manage all of them. It was hard to pick who to bring, even though he knew that he could switch them at any pokemon center. He also had a nagging fear that Tyler would send some kind of hit man after him, and he wanted to be prepared. He wouldn't admit that to his friends, though.

The end of the moving sidewalk came a little earlier than he had anticipated, and it threw him off-balance. He hadn't been paying attention and he had to do an awkward hop to get off without falling over. He stumbled a bit, but regained his balance. He started to feel a bit embarrassed as he began to walk with the crowd. Misty started to giggle at him, and he turned his head. He chuckled a bit too, as hearing her laugh lightened his mood.

"Nice one, Ash," she teased.

"I totally meant to do that," he responded jokingly.

"Sure ya did, ya big klutz."

"Hey! I'm pretty graceful most of the time!" Ash's volume began to rise.

"Ha, graceful. In your dreams!"

"I am so!" Ash put his fist out in front of him in defiance.

"Are not!" Misty placed her hands firmly on her hips and leaned forward.

"Am too!"

"Are not!"

"Am too!" Misty didn't respond. Ash thought he had won the argument, but she just scrunched her eyebrows and sighed.

"Aren't we eighteen years old? Shouldn't we at least argue like we're eighteen?" Misty's tone was slightly subdued.

"Oh yeah? And how do we do that?" Ash's voice was still raised.

"Convince me that you're right," she responded.

"Okay... I'm not a klutz because... I'm not one!"

"That wasn't an argument!" Misty's voice became loud once again.

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Pika!" Pikachu managed to get their attention with his outburst. "Pikapi, pikachupi, pikachu," he said, pointing out toward the rest of the hallway. Ash looked out to where Pikachu pointed. People were staring at them. Some people had stopped to watch them. A small child, the same one he had seen earlier, was now crying. He looked back to Misty. It seemed they had both looked back at the same time.

"We should go..." Misty suggested, her voice trailing off.

"Yeah," Ash responded. With that, they both began to awkwardly make their way toward the departure gates. Ash found himself embarrassed. He couldn't remember the last time he had gotten in a fight with her in public, though he knew it had happened before. He felt a bit of guilt that he had disrupted the peace of many peoples' days, especially for the small child. That guilt subsided quickly, though, as his attention was drawn elsewhere. He was never one to dwell on such things.

Misty stopped at a departures screen and started looking at flight numbers and airport names. Ash couldn't remember for the life of him what the name of the airport they were going to was, let alone their flight number. He was glad to have Misty around. She was much more organized than he.

She started to walk off to Ash's left, but there weren't any gates that way. He followed her, not knowing where she was leading him. He didn't know where else to go. Soon, he could tell why they were here: duty-free shopping. He groaned inwardly, dreading what might come of this. He briefly remembered that day at the princess festival all those years ago. How his back ached after carrying that much stuff.

Misty looked back at him and gave him a look of concern.

"Is something wrong, Ash?" she asked.

"Uh... no, nothing." He could tell he hardly sounded convincing.

"What is it?" Misty inquired, rolling her eyes. He sighed.

"Are you gonna buy up everything in the airport?"

"No. I was just going to buy some gum."

"Gum?"

"Yeah, gum. For my ears, the elevation changes," Misty responded.

"Chewing gum doesn't work. Just swallow when your ears start to feel pressure."

"Well, it works for me. I don't suppose you want any."

"No thanks." Ash followed her into one of those newspaper stores that hardly sold any newspapers. She quickly found the gum and went up to the cashier. Ash stood just behind her, closer than he had planned. She didn't seem to notice. A scent wafted into Ash's nose. It was Misty, he assumed. She smelt flowery, he couldn't identify what kind of flower, but it was intoxicating. A spring garden in full bloom is what he imagined when he tried to picture what would produce such a scent. He looked down at her hair. It was that same fiery red that he had come to love, and it looked smooth and silky. An overwhelming urge to run his fingers through those locks suddenly rushed over him. He had to ball his fist up when he found it wandering up toward her head. Misty's head moved back, and he felt her backpack bump into his chest. Misty let out a noise of surprise and turned around.

"Oh, sorry." Their eyes locked. They were standing face to face, very close together. Ash began to feel heat rise up within him, through his chest and into his face. A small tingle rushed down his arms, causing his hairs to stand up a bit. His heart began to thump as he noticed his cheeks were gathering up most of the heat that pervaded his body; surely he was blushing at this point. Before he knew it, Misty's head shot downward and she scooted off to his left and toward the store's exit. Ash was left frozen, but not for long.

"So, uh, I appreciate that the sexual tension between you and that girl is thick and all, but, there are people waiting in line," the cashier informed him, looking at him with a rather unenthusiastic face. Ash looked to his right to see the line. Most of the people seemed to be staring at him impatiently. He got the message.

"Sorry," he said as he shuffled off, visibly embarrassed.

He caught up to Misty, who was now presumably on the way to the gate from which they would depart. She seemed to be walking rather fast, as he had a hard time keeping up with her for a while. She slowed down soon enough. Ash came up alongside her.

"What were ya walkin' so fast for?"

"Oh, uhh... n-no reason." She sounded nervous, like she was trying to hide something. _Was she trying to cover up a blush?_ That thought kept repeating itself in his head, despite his efforts to write it off as wishful thinking. They walked on as Ash tried to keep his thoughts in check.

Suddenly, Misty stopped and began to look at one of the gates they were passing by.

"Ash, that plane is going to France. Why aren't we going there?" She seemed starry-eyed when she asked that. Her hands were clasped and nestled into her neck, as if she were having a pleasant day-dream.

"Well, they don't have much of a Pokemon League there. Plus, I don't speak French."

"But France is so close to Albion, and I've never been there, and I've always wanted to go there." Her rate of speech increased significantly. Then, an idea popped into Ash's head. This might be the opportunity he was looking for. Before he could think about it, words started to come out of his mouth.

"Close to Albion, huh? I guess it is. Sure, let's go there." It was then that Ash's idea fully entered his mind and began to register with him. He began to panic. A spike of adrenaline drove itself through his stomach and his eyes widened. His mind interpreted that rush in two distinctly different ways, exciting him, and terrifying him.

"Really? We're going to France? Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get to that plane! The sooner we get to Albion, the sooner we get to France!" Misty grabbed him by the arm and began to run off. His shoulder yanked him along with her, causing him to stumble. His legs caught him as they began to run with her. He hardly noticed any of this, as he was now firmly locked up in his own mind. His thoughts bounced around his head like bullets ricocheting off of walls. He let the world pass him by as he considered every word that he could say, every gesture he could make, every success and every failure. Anticipation and anxiety stampeded around his chest, each fighting for control of his emotions. Anxiety seemed to be winning.

He snapped back to reality when the woman at the gate asked for his ticket. He shook his head to wake himself up and scrounged around his pockets and backpack until he found it. He gave it to the woman, who then tore off a part of it and gave it back to him. Misty was now rushing to get onto the jetway. Seeing her this happy and excited normally made him feel happy too, but he was too focused on the course of events he had set into motion to feel that way. He took a deep breath and remembered the last nugget of wisdom Brock had imparted on him before they left for the airport: "if you never ask, the answer is always 'no.'"

"Pikapi..." Pikachu tapped Ash on the shoulder. He looked around, wondering why, until he realized that he had been standing there, not moving. He began to walk down the jetway. He hung a right once he got onto the plane and saw Misty sitting at a window seat near the front, two open seats next to her. Pikachu hopped off of his head and excitedly bounded toward the aisle seat. The last time they went on a plane, Pikachu had figured out that he could steal ketchup packets from the food cart from the aisle seat without the attendants noticing. Ash took the middle seat, his heart pounding away. He found it hard to settle into the seat. Something about it being the seat from which he would ask Misty on a date intimidated him.

He looked over at her. She seemed to be bouncing in her chair with anticipation. She was beautiful when she smiled. Of course, she was always beautiful to him, but her smile was radiant. She seemed to glow in her state of rapture. Ash felt a very deep satisfaction in that moment at having made her this happy. He only hoped she didn't detest the idea of a night out with him. That would surely ruin both of their moods.

He suddenly found himself unable to speak. He wanted to get it over with right then and there, but he simply couldn't. His jaws were frozen shut. Something in his mind was too terrified of what he was about to do to let his mouth move. He began to hope Misty would try to converse with him about something, just so that he would have to say something, just to get his mouth moving.

Unfortunately he had no such luck, and he ended up stewing in his own mental juices until the plane began to taxi out onto the runway. Pikachu began to take notice of Ash's state and tapped his arm to get his attention. Pikachu began to make head motions, indicating that he should just go for it. The bond Pikachu shared with him sometimes surprised him. He looked back over at Misty. Her eyes were practically glued to the window, her fingers grasping on the edges of the port-hole. Ash began to open his mouth, when suddenly Misty's head shot around.

"How long do you think it'll take to get there?" Misty's sudden outburst surprised Ash, who was already on edge.

"Uh... six or seven hours, I think."

"Okay, so with the time difference, that means we'll get there around one or two in the afternoon. That's plenty of time to catch a ferry to Paris!" Ash's anxiety began to boil in his stomach. He didn't expect to be going there for at least a few days.

"Uhh, you wanna go there today?" He at least wanted time to plan the date.

"Yeah! I already know exactly what we're gonna do. As soon as we get off the ferry, we're going to the Louvre. Then we have to see the Notre Dame cathedral, then the Arc de Triomphe, then, once it gets dark, we're going to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I'm so excited!" Misty seemed like she had planned this since childhood. Once again, Ash found that words were coming out of his mouth before he could think about them. The tension in his mind and body were mounting as his mouth sped ahead of his head. The adrenaline coursed through his veins, the fear pumped through his mind.

"Any plans for dinner in there?" There it was. He had just crossed the point of no return. All of a sudden, the peaking nerves and anxiety seemed to vent through every pore in his body, rushing out of him, giving him the strange feeling of floating. He found he was no longer anxious, no longer afraid. Everything seemed set into place, and he could only now sit back and watch the pieces fall as they were fated to. The words simply came to him from here on.

"Of course you'd be thinking about food, Ash. I was just thinking we'd grab something."

"Misty, how could you plan a trip to France without planning to go to a French restaurant?"

"Well, we'd have to stay overnight, so there's always tomorrow. Did you have something in mind?"

"Actually, I was thinking I'd take you out somewhere nice." Now he really felt like he was floating. He seemed to lift out of his own body, almost like he was watching himself, out of his own control.

"O-out?" Misty was barely audible, and her face quickly flushed a deep shade of red. _Hm, t__his might actually end well_, Ash thought, disconnected from his own fate, as though he were watching a movie.

"Yeah, somewhere with flowers, or candles, or waiters with waxed moustaches, or something." Misty started to giggle. Ash just smiled back.

"I-I'd like that. I'd like that a lot." Her head was lowered, a grin on her face.

"Awesome. I'm sure we'll be able to find someplace the fits the bill." Ash relaxed back into his chair and the reality of what just happened began to settle in. He found himself grinning wildly as he stepped back into his body. He was going on a date with Misty. After all this time, eight years, he was finally going on a date with her. A wave of elation washed over him, lapping at his extremities, giving him a warm tingling feeling. He glanced over to Misty, who seemed to be doing the same to him. Her eyes shot forward, but she was smiling wider than ever. He looked back at the seat in front of him and took a deep breath in.

The plane began to take off beneath them, and he seemed to begin to fly along with it. As the plane rose higher, so did he. He had never felt quite the way he did now. It was how he imagined he would feel when he earned the title of Pokemon Master. An ethereal joy enveloped him, like a warm blanket. The plane began to level off, giving the passengers a bit of a weightless feeling, that feeling of excitement that you get when you drive over a small hill in just the right way. Ash seemed to feel it longer than it lasted; he was flying through the sky at five hundred miles per hour in more ways than one.

He had expected to be worried about what he might wear or what he would say to her or how he would make her laugh, but all of that seemed so far away. It all seemed trivial. He was simply excited to be on a new adventure, looking forward to the new experiences that awaited him, both with his pokemon and on his date. He looked back to Misty, who was still smiling. All he could think was how lovely she looked. He suddenly found that his mind was calm, for the first time in a while. The only thing that went through his mind as they sped off into the distance was: _maybe I am good enough for her_.

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**So there it was, chapter five. Reviews, favs, and follows are greatly appreciated. Criticism is fine as long as it's constructive. If you liked this, try checking out my other stories!**

**P.S. I told a few of you wonderful reviewers that I would probably be able to continue this into a longer story. However, my schedule has undergone an unexpected overhaul. There was a course that I need to take this semester that I wasn't aware didn't meet next year, and it's really goddamn hard. So I don't know if I'll be able to do that. If I do decide to continue it, it's gonna take a while for new chapters to come out.**


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